Vera Institute of Justice

Overview

This is a summary of the findings of Vera's intensive evaluation of the Manhattan Court Employment (MCEP), an experimental attempt to intervene in the usual court process just after a defendant's arrest ("pretrial diversion"). It offered defendants counseling and job opportunities and, if the defendant cooperated and showed promise of permanent change, recommended that the prosecutor and the judge dismiss the charges against him without ever deciding whether he was guilty. Thus, the MCEP attempted to convert a participant's arrest from a losing to a winning experience.